A bold and welcome edition to the rising tide of ecopunk, January 27, 2012

Much like Night Shade flag bearer The Wind-Up Girl (Bacigalupi), Seed is a near term science fiction novel that centers around the impacts of climate change and over population on the world's environment. The Hugo Award winning Wind-Up Girl focused on Thailand, but hinted at the problems ongoing in America. In many ways Seed could be that story of America. That's not to say it's derivative of Bacigalupi, but there's certainly similarities in tone and texture to the world playing to the current fears that Earth is reaching 'critical mass'.Seed is set at dawn of the 22nd century, the world has fallen apart and a new corporate power has emerged: Satori. More than just a corporation, Satori is an intelligent, living city in America's heartland. She manufactures climate-resistant seed to feed humanity, and bio-engineers her own perfected castes of post-humans. What remains of the United States government now exists solely to distribute Satori product.When a...

I blurbed this book. Here's what I said about it:"If The Windup Girl had been born in the American Southwest, and had had the genes of Akira spliced to it in utero, you'd have something like Seed, a gritty, sobering story about the fallout of climate change. When Seed hits it hits hard, but there are parts that are surprisingly tender. The writing is intricate and bright, the plot sings, and through fascinating extrapolation, Ziegler has created a world that feels foreign and familiar both. The bottom line? Seed is a bold and welcome edition to the rising tide of ecopunk."Beyond this, what I can say is that Seed is a book that constantly challenges you. It's inventive and immersive. The world feels consistent and fascinating. I haven't gotten a feel from a book like this in a while. The last time I recall feeling this sort of wonder was when I'd read William Gibson for the first time.For those that like their sci-fi with a harrowing plot and...

About a century from now, climate change has caused a new Dust Bowl in the Corn Belt, resulting in major famine across the United States. Most of the surviving population leads a nomadic existence, migrating across the ravaged landscape in search of habitable, arable land. Decades of war, resource depletion and population decline have left the government practically powerless. Gangs and warlords rule the land.The only thing staving off full-blown starvation is Satori, a hive-like living city that produces genetically engineered drought-tolerant seed. Its population is a mix of transhuman Designers, Advocate warriors and "landrace" Laborers. When one of Satori's Designers leaves the fold and goes rogue, the desperate U.S. government sends the ex-military Secret Service Agent Sienna Doss to track her down.Seed follows three separate but connected plots. Brood, Hondo and Pollo are starving migrants trying to make ends meet in the parched America heartland. Through...